Obama, A Fly, And Compassionate Living June 18, 2009

Posted by Pulin Modi at June 18, 2009 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 14 ) | TrackBack

One of the hottest news stories today has been about PETA's statement on President Obama killing a fly during a recent interview.

There's a bit of a misunderstanding on what's been going on with this (we don't have a campaign against him for swatting a fly or anything like that), so here's what we have to say ...

Certainly, President Obama has been helpful in his opposition to factory farming, which involves the mutilation and slaughter while fully conscious of 10 billion chickens and other farmed animals every year and is something America can be ashamed of. He condemned the Canadian seal slaughter, which is the largest massacre of marine mammals in the world. His wife won't wear fur, which means she doesn't support having animals die slowly in traps and an abysmal life and death on fur factory farms just for a coat. His administration is supporting openness regarding how government money is spent, so that's going to save millions of animals from painful experiments every year. And he had a perfect voting record on behalf of animals while he was in the Senate and spoke out publically in support of animal protection on multiple occasions during his campaign for President. Swatting a fly on TV indicates that he's not the Buddha, that's all.

As an organization, we support compassion even for the most curious, smallest, and least sympathetic animals, much as Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who included insects in his realm of compassion, but human beings often don't think before they act and so people swat flies and far worse.

PETA's mission statement is that other animals are not ours to eat, to wear, to experiment on, or to use for human amusement. Basically, do the least harmful, hurtful thing you can, be aware.

We hope that anyone reading this will take steps to reduce suffering through simple, kind choices in our daily lives such as choosing vegetarian meals, cruelty-free cosmetics, and clothing made without animals. Visit peta2.com/TakeCharge if you need some motivation and tips on making it happen.